Waders in avon valley ESA

ESA helps some waders in the Avon Valley

Key findings

• Lapwings and redshank are more likely to breed on land managed under the higher ESA tiers than on non-agreement land.
• The future of lapwings and redshank in the Avon Valley will depend on uptake of ESA measures.
• There is no evidence that ESAs are benefiting snipe.

The Avon Valley floodplain between Salisbury and Christchurch is recognised for its breeding waders. About 52 square kilometres are designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) and five areas have Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status.

By 1990, the valley was one of just eight lowland wet grassland sites in England that had retained appreciable numbers of lapwings, redshank and snipe. Nevertheless, survey data collected by RSPB, MAFF (now Defra) and ourselves in 1990 and 1996 showed declines of around 50% in pairs of lapwings and redshank, and 80% in numbers of displaying snipe. There was also a reduction in the area used by the birds, with a concentration towards the southern end of the valley.

Problems seem to be the drying out of fields in the spring, the loss of muddy ditch edges and an increasing polarisation in sward heights, with some swards too short as a result of intensive grazing and others too tall owing to encroachment by nettles, thistles and docks. These factors were addressed in revisions to the ESA scheme in 1998.

There is now a breeding wader supplement to the permanent grassland tiers (tiers 1A and 1B), which provides an incentive for farmers to reduce stocking densities to 0.75 livestock units per hectare during April-May. There is also a new wet grassland tier (tier 1C) with a higher rate of payment for the removal of livestock during April-May combined with the retention of surface water in spring and maintenance of ditch water levels.

Figure 1. Comparison of numbers of breeding pairs of lapwings and redshanks and numbers of displaying snipe on the same farms in the Avon Valley between Salisbury and Christchurch in 1990, 1996 and 2003.The total area surveyed was 13 square kilometres (1,300 hectares).

	1990
	1996
	2003

During spring 2003, Andrew Hoodless and Hannah McLaughlin (Reading University) repeated the survey of breeding waders to determine their current status and to assess the effectiveness of ESA prescriptions. They surveyed 28 sites covering an area of 13 square kilometres for a direct comparison with the survey data from 1990 and 1996. Our results were encouraging for lapwings and redshank, which showed no decline since 1996 (see Figure 1).

There were some changes in the distribution, which could largely be explained by the management at each site. Lapwings and redshank were more likely to breed on fields managed specifically for breeding waders under the ESA scheme than on other permanent grass fields.

November-January 1995/6 was quite dry and could have reduced food for waders at the start of the breeding season, whereas in spring 2003 conditions were better and more pairs of birds may have settled as a result. The future of lapwings and redshank in the valley will probably depend on increased uptake of the ESA scheme. Further work is needed to look at breeding success of these birds.

The outlook for snipe looks bleak. We saw no drumming males in 2003 and flushed only five birds in May or June, suggesting that few birds had bred. In 1990, 29 displaying males were recorded on our study areas, but we saw only five in 1996. Sadly this picture is the same at other lowland wet grassland sites and there is no evidence that ESAs are benefiting this species.